Earth-moving equipment



Oct. 30, 1962 e. A. ROGERS 3,061,123

EARTH-MOVING EQUIPMENT Filed Jan. 25, 1960 s Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTO RN EYSlNVENTOR George A. Ro el B &

Oct. 30, 1962 G. A. ROGERS EARTH-MOVING EQUIPMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledJan 25, I 1960 a M/ a A.- n. 4 i la F 6 w a a 0 WW 6 u/ z Z 2 INVENTORGeare A R se -3 BY mm M P Mu. ATTORNEY\5 Oct. 30, 1962 Filed Jan. 25,1960 G. A. ROGERS EARTH-MOVING EQUIPMENT 55 fSheeis-Sheei 3 INVENTORGeorgi A- j S g ATTORNEYJ Unitcd States Patent 3,061,123 EARTH-MOVINGEQUIPMENT George A. Rogers, Pinetown Road, RR. 1, Norristown, Pa.

Filed Jan. 25, 1960, Ser. No. 4,506 13 Claims. (Cl. 214-445) Thisinvention in general relates to earth-moving equipment and in particularrelates to such equipment of the type having a power operated shovel orbucket to be moved into the earth for picking up a load of earth,removing and dumping the same on an adjacent area or vehicle.

The invention is especially concerned with improving the efiiciency ofuse of equipment of the kind in question in very dense or hard earth,such as clay or shale. To that end, the invention contemplates poweroperated mechanism associated with the bucket operative to put the earthin a loose or frangible condition so that it offers little resistance topenetration by the bucket.

The preferred form of the invention contemplates a power operated clawstructurally and functionally interconnected with the bucket to permitthe bucket to be used independently of and without interference from theclaw, for the claw to be used independently of and without interferencefrom the bucket, and/or the claw and the bucket to be usedsimultaneously.

The principles of this invention can best be understood by consideringthe description below together with the drawings wherein:

FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 illustrate three successive stages of the operationof a machine employing this invention to break shale found in a shalebed located at or near the surface of the ground;

FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 illustrate three successive stages of the operationof a machine employing this invention to break into a shale bed foundsome distance beneath the surface below an overburden of softermaterial;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevation of the bucket linkage system and claw;

FIGURE 8 is a rear elevation of the same assembly;

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view of the claw and mounting means, the sectionbeing taken along the line 9--9 in FIGURE 7; 7

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view of the claw and mounting means, thesection being taken along the line 10-10 of FIGURE 7; and

FIGURE 11 is a sectional view of a modified form of the claw mechanismand the manner of mounting the same.

There are a wide variety of earth-moving machines employing one or moreshovels or buckets. However, for purposes of disclosing the invention,the same is illustrated and described in connection with a typicalearth-moving machine commonly referred to as a back-hoe, it beingunderstood, of course, that the invention finds utility and may beemployed in conjunction with several of the other types of earthmoving-apparatus.

Back-hoe type digging machines are widely used for shallow excavatingwork, especially trench-digging, because of their flexibility and easeof control. While the configuration of various makes of machine differs,the basic principle of operation remains the same: a power driven bucketmounted on the endof a boom (which may be hinged or of a telescopingdesign), with its dig.- ging edge facing generally toward the base ofthe machine, is moved downward into the earth, and at the same time ismoved toward the base of the machine. This action in effect duplicatesthe operation of a manually operated hoe in that the cutting or diggingedge is forced downward and backward. Both the boom and 3,061,123Patented Oct. 30., 1962 the bucket are generally powered by hydraulicsystems. This form of power, together with the mode of operation, thatis, the hoeing action, provide a major advantage over other diggingmachine designs, in that a large force can be applied to the diggingedge of the bucket in a down-and-back direction, although only a smallportion of this force need be supplied by the weight of the bucket.

Despite this advantage, back-hoe machines in ordinary sizes have provedinadequate when the digging must be performed in extremely hard forms ofearth such as shale o'r sunbaked hardpan. In such situations apreliminary earth breaking operation has been found to be necessarybefore the back-hoe can be used to remove the earth. This preliminaryoperation may involve use of pneumatic hammers, dynamite, or specialmachinery adapted for breaking or loosening the earth. All of thesemeans require extra labor and equipment over and above the back-hoe andits operator. If the excavation required is of any appreciable depth,the operation in many cases will be ineflicient, because either thebreaking crew and equipment or the back-hoe and its operator will be inenforced idleness while the other operation is under way. The rate ofprogress in such a procedure, say in terms of linear feet of a trenchfive feet deep per day, may drop as low as 45 feet per day, as comparedwith 300 to 400 feet per day in more tractable earth, or, expressed as apercentage, as low as 10 percent of the normal rate. By the use of thisinvention, the rate of progress through shale (with the same sizeequipment) will be as much as feet of trench per day, or 34 to 50percent of the normal rate, and about three to four times as fast asheretofore possible.

The description following concerns FIGURES 1-6 and only the majorstructural elements are numbered and discussed. Detailed considerationof the structure of the preferred embodiment will appear later inconnection with the description of FIGURES 7-11.

The back-hoe apparatus, indicated generally as 31, is shown mounted on amobile unit or tractor 32, which provides the power required to operatethe back-hoe, and which establishes a fixed base point toward and awayfrom which the back-hoe is moved during its operation. Although awheeled tractor is shown for this purpose, a back-hoe may be mounted onother apparatus, for example, on a truck, a tracked vehicle, a sled, arailway car, or a barge. The tractor is provided with stabilizers 33, arearward facing seat 34 for the back-hoe operator, and a set of controls35 for the back-hoe.

The back-hoe 31 has a support comprising the main boom 36 and outer boom16 on which is mounted the bucket 12, together with driving linkage L(and other parts which are unnumbered in FIGURES 1-6, but which areshown in detail in FIGURES 7-11). The boom 36 is moved by means of thehydraulic cylinder and piston rod 37; the outer boom 16 is moved bymeans of the hydraulic cylinder and piston rod 38, and the bucket 12 ismoved by means of the hydraulic cylinder 22 and its piston rod 21. Thesupport is movable relative to the mobile unit and as will be explainedshortly, positions the bucket so that the bucket can perform itsearth-removing function.

In the present embodiment an earth-digging claw 27 is connected with thebucket by being mounted on the linkage L. The shape of the claw is inpart dependent upon the shape and size of the bucket 12 employed, andupon the lever system used to power and move the bucket, because it ispreferred that the bucket and claw never come in contact with eachother. The principal requirement of shape, from the standpoint of thefunctioning of the invention, is that the claw present aninstrumentality capable of digging into and breaking up the earth bybeing driven in a downward direction and at the same time in a backwarddirection toward the base of the machine (that is, to the right inFIGURES 1-6). In the particular embodiment disclosed in the drawings theclaw is generally of sickle shape. It is preferred that the claw bedetachably secured to the bucket so that it may be removed when it isnot needed, for instance, when the back-hoe is being used in soft dirt.It is a feature of the invention, however, that the claw will notinterfere with the more usual operation of the bucket if it is left inplace. Therefore, it is not objectionable that the claw be permanentlymounted on the bucket.

In the normal operation of a back-hoe, say in a trenching operation, thedigging edge or earth-penetrating tip of the bucket is faced generallydownward and backward toward the base of the machine (or to the right inFIGURES 1-6). This initial position of the bucket 12 can be seen inFIGURE 4. The boom 16 (or the entire back-hoe boom system 3 1) on whichthe bucket 12 is mounted is then manipulated by the hydraulic powersystem to drive the digging edge of the bucket downward into the earth,and to the right. As the bucket bites out enough earth to substantiallyfill it, it is rotated (FIGURES 5 and 6) on the end of the boom untilits mouth faces upward, thus securing a load of earth in the bucket.

For operating the claw, the bucket 12 and boom '16 are placed in aposition similar to that at the beginning of a normal digging stroke.Then, before the bucket touches the earth, the bucket and claw arerotated until the mouth of the bucket faces upward and the point orearth-penetrating tip of the claw faces generally downward and to theright. This initial position is shown in FIGURE 1, in which the claw 27is poised above a shale bed 39 located at the surface of the ground.Note that in this position the tip of the bucket and the tip of the claware considerably spaced apart as compared, for example, to theirpositions as illustrated in FIG- URE 4.

With the claw positioned as shown in FIGURE 1, the boom 16 is thenmanipulated in a motion essentially the same as that of a normal diggingstroke. FIGURE 2 illustrates a position about half-way through a shalebreaking stroke, showing the claw 27 being driven downward and to theright into the shale bed 39, leaving the broken shale 40 behind it.During the entire stroke the bucket 12 is maintained in the samerelative position. As can be seen in FIGURE 2, the bucket remains abovethe level of the ground throughout the shale breaking stroke. The basicshale breaking stroke is repeated on the same section of ground as manytimes as necessary to break up sufficient shale to form a bucket loadwhich can be removed by the back-hoe bucket. In FIG- URE 3 the bucket 12is shown part way through such a loading stroke. The mouth of the bucket12 is faced down and to the right; the claw 27 is out of the way behindthe bucket; and the bucket is being moved in a scooping motion into thebroken shale 40, leaving a cleaned out hole 42 behind it. It can be seenthat the movement in which the bucket is loaded with broken shale isessentially the same as a conventional digging stroke.

As the bucket 12 scoops out enough broken shale to substantially fillit, it is rotated about the end of the boom 16 to its mouth-up position,thereby securing a load of shale in it. At the same time the claw 27 isrotated into its operative position and as it is drawn to the right, itpartially, at least, breaks [the shale on the next lower level (see, forexample, FIGURE 5).

The degree to which the claw and bucket are simultaneously operative canbe determined by controlling the relative rotation, for example, bydelaying the rotation of the bucket and claw until the very end of thebucket loading stroke.

As will be apparent from the above, when the bucket 12 is rotated intothe mouth-up position the claw 27 is also rotated into its operativeposition. Also, when the bucket is rotated from its mouth-up position toa position with its digging edge downward (the operative position forthe bucket at the beginning of a digging stroke), the claw is rotatedout of its operative position to a position behind and generally abovethe bucket, where it is out of the way and will not interfere with theusual operation of the bucket. Thus, it will be seen that the claw andbucket may be used independently of one another or may be usedsimultaneously.

In the sequence of views, FIGURES 4-6, showing the operation of thisinvention upon a shale bed found beneath an overburden, FIGURE 4 showsthe bucket 12 (and claw 27) in position at the beginning of the firstnormal digging stroke. The overburden 43 (indicated by cross-hatching)is removed by a number of such digging strokes. In FIGURE 5, theoverburden 43 is being removed, exposing the shale bed 39 and the claw27, being in its operative position, is digging into and breaking up theshale 39, leaving broken shale 40 behind it. In FIGURE 6 which shows theend of the movement illustrated in FIGURE 5, the bucket 12 is beinglifted to the surface, filled with dirt. The portion of the FIG- URE inbroken lines shows the apparatus in the unloading position where dirthas been dumped into an awaiting vehicle or on the adjacent ground.

The claw, when utilized in the manner described heretofore is highlyeffective as a shale breaker because the force which the back-hoe powersystem can apply to the shale in a downward and backward direction isconcentrated in the relatively small area of the point of the claw. Themaximum pressure which can be applied to the shale by the claw will begreater than the maximum pressure which can be applied to the shale bythe bucket by a factor equal to the ratio of the area of the penetratingedge of the bucket to the area of the penetrating edge of the claw.Thus, it can be seen that the claw utilizes the chief advantage of theback-hoe type of machine over other digging equipment, that of providinga large force in a downward and backward direction, by concentrating itsapplication in a small area.

It has been found that in many shale beds the shale, when brought underthe pressure of the tooth, will break up into fairly large pieces. Asingle claw driven through a shale bed with this property will break apath several times its own width. As a consequence, a relatively smallnumber of clawing strokes would be required to break enough shale forthe bucket to load. In some types of shale, however, the path broken bya single claw may be more nearly the mere width of the claw. In such acase, with a single claw, more clawing strokes for each loading strokewould be required. A multiple-claw arrangement of the invention may beused in shale beds of the latter type.

The manner in which the bucket and claw are mounted and rotated in thepresent embodiment will be described following:

In FIGURES 7 and 8 the bucket 12 is shown, with a digging orearth-penetrating tip 13, upon which is mounted a number of projections14, each of which is provided with a replaceable wear tooth 15. Thebucket has an earth-carrying wall 12a. A link 17 comprising the parts17a and 17b is welded to one edge of the bucket and to the wall 12a andcarries nut and bolt assembly 17c which forms a pivot connection withthe boom 16. The bucket is adapted to be rotated about the pivot 170.The bucket also has a link 18 comprising parts 18a and 18b welded to thewall 12a, each carrying a bolt respectively secured to the link 19comprising the parts 19a and 19b. The link 19 may alternately beattached to the link 18 at the points 20. The ends of the parts 19a and19b are attached to a rod 21, which in the embodiment shown is also thepiston rod of a hydraulic cylinder 22 (see FIG- sperms URES 1-6). Theattachment of the parts 19a and 19b to the rod 21 is by means of thebolt 23. It has been found that this bolt should preferably be of mediumhard steel because it withstands the shocks incident to a shale breakingoperation better than a case hardened bolt. The link 19, and the rod 21are connected to the boom 16 by means of the intermediate link 24comprising parts 24a and 24b. These links are attached to the boom 16with the bolt 25 and to the link 19 and the rod 21 with the bolt 23. Thebolts 17c, 18c, 23 and 25 are each of a size which permits the variousparts through which they are passed to rotate with respect to each otherabout the axis of the bolt; in other words, the bolts form pivots in thelinkage system.

Between the links 19a and 19b there is welded a hollow socket member 26.This socket is made up of four heavy metal walls attached together, forexample by welding, to form a long passage of generally rectangularcross section, with the axis of the passage generally parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the link 19. Into this socket is inserted the shank27a of the claw 27, the shank 27a being sized and shaped to fit into thesocket 26. The walls of the socket 26 and the shank 27a of the claw 27are provided with holes through which the bolt 28 is passed, therebyremovab-ly securing the claw 27 in position on the link 19. I

The claw has a blade portion 27b terminating in a point 270 upon whichis mounted a wear tooth 29. The wear tooth 29 is the same size and shapeas the wear teeth mounted on the bucket, and serves a similar function.

It will be observed that the cylinder 22 is secured to the boom 16 bymeans of pivot structure 22a which permits the cylinder 22 and the rod21 to swing or rotate relative to the boom. The cylinder is adapted tobe supplied with fluid so that the rod may be moved back and forth inthe cylinder or reciprocated relative to the boom 16 With reference toFIGURE 7 it will be observed that if the rod 21 is moved downwardly (inthe direction of the arrows A) the link 24 will be rotatedcounter-clock: wise about the pivot 25; the link 19 will be rotatedcounter-clockwise with respect to the boom 16; the bucket 12 will berotated counter-clockwise about the pivot 17c and the claw 27 will berotated counter-clockwise with respect to the boom. With motion of therod 21 upwardly (in the direction of the arrows B) the above-mentionedelements will be rotated in the opposite direction. In either case therotation of the links 19 and 24 is accommodated by virtue of the pivot22a permitting the rod 21 to swing or rotate relative to the boom.

From the above description and also the earlier description inconnection with FIGURES 1-6, it will be apparent that movement of therod in the direction of the arrows A will cause the bucket and the clawto be relatively related so that the earth-penetrating tips of the clawand the bucket separate from one another, whereas movement of the rod inthe direction of the arrows B will effect a rotation of the claw andbucket so that the tips move closer together. When the claw and bucketare relatively close together the claw is in position for the bucket toperform its normal earth-removing function without interference from theclaw and when the claw and bucket are relatively far apart, the claw isin position to perform its normal earth-breaking function withoutinterference from the bucket.

The multi-claw configuration shown in FIGURE 11 is provided with twooutboard sockets 26', two claws 27' disposed therein together with asecuring bolt 28'. The claws 27' are substantially the same as the claw27 in FIGURES 7-l0, and serve the same function, although they are shownas having a somewhat smaller thickness.

By considering together FIGURES 9 and 11, it can readily be seen thatthe link 19 can have mounted upon it a central socket, such as 26, andtwo outboard sockets 6 such as 26'. With this arrangement, one, two,three or no claws may be mounted at one time, thus providing greatflexibility of configuration in one unit.

I claim:

1. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a supportconstructed to carry an earth-removing bucket and having connectionswith said unit providing for the support to be movable relative to theunit for positioning the bucket to perform its earth-removing function:an earth-removing bucket having an earth-penetr'ab ing tip pivotallyconnected with said support for rotation relative thereto; anearth-digging claw having an earth-penetrating tip pivotally connectedwith said bucket for rotation relative thereto; means including amovable drive element movable in opposite directions and connectedbetween said claw and said bucket and constructed to rotate the claw andbucket with their respective tips moving toward one another when thedrive element is moving in one direction and to rotate the claw andbucket with their respective tips moving away from one another when thedrive element is moving in the opposite direction; and means connectedwith said support to move said drive element.

2. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a supportconstructed to carry an earth-removing bucket and having connectionswith said unit providing for the support to be movable relative to theunit for positioning the bucket to perform its earth-removing function:an earth-rernoving bucket having an earth-penetrating tip; mechanismincluding a pivot means connecting said support and said bucket andproviding for rotary motion of the bucket relative to the support; anearth-digging claw having an earth-penetrating tip; mechanism includingpivot means connecting said claw and said bucket and providing forrotary motion of the claw relative to the bucket; and drive mechanismhaving common connections with said claw and said bucket for rotatingthe same, the drive mechanism having a movable element movable inopposite directions and when the element is moving in one direction saidtips move relatively apart and when the element is moving in theopposite direction said tips move relatively together.

3. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a supportconstructed to carry an earth-removing bucket and having connectionswith said unit providing for the support to be movable relative to theunit for positioning the bucket to perform its earth-removing function:an earth-removing bucket having an earth-penetrating tip; meansincluding a pivot connecting said support and said bucket and providingfor rotary movement of the bucket relative to the support; a power driveelement; means connecting said power drive element with said support andproviding for the drive element to have a reciprocating translatorymotion and a rotary motion with respect to said support; mechanismincluding pivot means interconnecting said drive element and saidbucket; and an earth-digging claw having an earth-penetrating tippivotally connected with said bucket for rotation relative thereto;means connecting said claw to said drive element to be movabletherewith, rotary motion and translatory motion of said drive elementcausing movement of said bucket and said claw, when the translatorymotion is in one direction, the tips moving relatively apart and, whentranslatory motion is in the opposite direction, the tips movingrelatively together.

4. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a boom constructedto carry an earth-removing bucket and having connections with said unitproviding for the boom to be movable relative to the unit forpositioning the bucket to perform its earth-removing function; anearth-removing bucket having an earth-penetrating tip; mechanismincluding pivot means connecting said boom and said bucket and providingrotary motion of the bucket relative to the boom; a cylinder and apiston; mechanism including pivot means connecting said cylinder to saidboom; mechanism including pivot means connecting said piston to saidbucket; an earth-digging claw having an earth-penetrating tip; andmechanism including last said pivot means interconnecting said claw withsaid bucket, the pivot means providing for rotary motion of the clawrelative to the bucket.

5. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a boom constructedto carry an earth-removing bucket and having connections with said unitproviding for the boom to be movable relative to the unit forpositioning the bucket to perform its earth-removing function: anearth-removing bucket; a piston and a cylinder, the cylinder beingpivotally connected to said boom; a first link pivotally connected tosaid boom at a point adjacent its end and connected to said bucket; asecond link pivotally connected to said bucket and connected to saidpiston; and an earth-digging claw connected to said second link.

6. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a boom constructedto carry an earth-removing bucket and having connections with said unitproviding for the boom to be movable relative to the unit forpositioning the bucket to perform its earth-removing function: anearth-removing bucket pivotally connected adjacent one end of said boom;a piston and a cylinder, the cylinder being pivotally connected to saidboom; a first link pivotally connected to said piston and to said boomat a point adjacent said one end; a second link pivotally connected tosaid bucket and to said piston; and an earth-digging claw mounted onsaid second link.

7. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a boom constructedto carry an earth-removing bucket and having connections with said unitproviding for the boom to be movable relative to the unit forpositioning the bucket to perform its earth-removing function: anearth-removing bucket pivotally connected to said boom; a cylinder and apiston, the cylinder being pivotally connected to said boom; a firstlink, one end of which is pivotally connected to said piston and theother end pivotally connected to said boom; a second link, one end ofwhich is pivotally connected to said piston and the other end pivotallyconnected to said bucket, the second link being formed with a socket;and an earth-digging claw having a shank portion disposed in saidsocket.

8. A construction in accordance with claim 7 wherein said claw isremovably mounted in said socket.

9. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a boom constructedto carry an earth-removing bucket and having connections with said unitproviding for the boom to be movable relative to the unit forpositioning the bucket .to perform its earth-removing function: a bucketpivotally connected to said boom; a cylinder and a piston, the cylinderbeing pivotally connected to said boom; a first link, one end of whichis pivotally connected to said piston and the other end pivotallyconnected to said boom; a second link, one end of which is pivotallyconnected to said piston and the other end pivotally connected to saidbucket, the second link being formed with a pair of sockets; and a pairof earth-digging claws each having shank portions respectively disposedin said sockets.

10. A construction in accordance with claim 9 wherein said claws areremovably mounted in said sockets.

11. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a boomconstructed to carry an earth-removing bucket and having connectionswith said unit providing for the boom to be movable relative to the unitfor positioning the bucket to perform its earth-removing function; anearth-removing bucket having an earth-carrying wall, the wall carrying apivot connected to said boom; movable bucket driving linkageinterconnected between said boom and said bucket; an earth-digging clawconnected with said linkage and movable therewith; and meansinterconnected between said linkage and said boom for applying a forceto said linkage for moving the claw and the bucket relative to eachother.

12. In earth-moving equipment having a mobile unit and a boomconstructed to carry an earth-removing bucket and having connectionswith said unit providing for the boom to be movable relative to the unitfor positioning the bucket to perform its earth-removing function: abucket pivotally connected to said boom; a cylinder and a piston, thecylinder being pivotally connected to said boom; a first link, one endof which is pivotally connected to said piston and the other endpivotally connected to said boom; a second link, one end of which ispivotally connected to said piston and the other end pivotally connectedto said bucket, the second link being formed with a plurality ofsockets; and a plurality of earth-digging claws each having shankportions respectively disposed in said sockets.

13. A construction in accordance with claim 12 wherein said claws areremovably mounted in said sockets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,765,892 Wagner June 24, 1930 2,279,869 Houston Apr. 14, 1942 2,339,518Reisser Jan. 18, 1944 2,455,474 Drott Dec. 7, 1948 2,813,645 Pilch Nov.19, 1957 2,869,257 Braukly Jan. 20, 1959

